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S-889Senate2025-03-06Crime and Law Enforcement

Extreme Risk Protection Order Expansion Act of 2025

YourVoice.Now Summary

Gun LawsCivil LibertiesTransparency & Accountability

People a judge finds dangerous could not own a gun, and states would get money for these programs.

Gun Laws

Federal grants for state red-flag laws — Justice Department program

The Attorney General could give money to states, tribes, cities, and other groups that run these programs. The money pays for court staff, training, forms, and public outreach.

Court hearing in states taking the grants — within 30 days

A state law must give the named person written notice and a chance to speak. The court has to hold that hearing within 30 days of the petition.

Return of removed guns — owner gets them back when eligible

Guns taken under an order must be available for return once the person can legally own them again. That means meeting federal, state, and tribal law.

Protection for stored guns — cannot be destroyed without the owner's consent

While the order is in place, police cannot sell, scrap, or destroy the guns. The owner has to agree first.

Gun orders in the background-check system — added within 30 days

Courts must tell the Attorney General or a state agency about each order. The order then goes into the national background check system, within 30 days at the federal level.

Gun orders honored across state lines — every state must enforce

A court in one state would treat another state's order as its own. The person must have had notice and a chance to be heard.

Police training on gun orders — 25 to 70 percent of grants

Grant winners must spend at least a quarter of the money on training officers. Topics include bias, domestic violence safety planning, and calming people in mental health crisis.

Tribal court authority — gun orders enforced against anyone on tribal land

Tribal courts would get full civil power to issue and enforce these orders against any person. They could use contempt findings or bar the person from tribal land.

Warning before guns are taken — emergency orders skip it

A judge could sign an order the same day, before the person hears about it. That emergency order lasts only until the full hearing.

Proof for a gun-removal order — more likely than not

At the hearing, the judge must find it more likely than not that the person is a danger. A state may set a tougher test, but not an easier one.

Guns for people a judge finds dangerous — new federal ban

Federal law would add a new group of people who cannot have or buy guns. It covers court orders issued after a hearing the person was told about, not emergency orders.

Civil Liberties

Privacy of gun-order records — civil courts could look them up

The FBI would collect and keep court records naming people under these orders. Criminal justice agencies and civil courts could add them to national crime databases and search them.

Transparency & Accountability

Yearly reports on gun orders — counts, reasons, race, and age

Each grant recipient must report every year how many orders were asked for, granted, and denied. Reports break out who filed, the danger claimed, and the race, sex, age, and disability of both sides.

More about this bill

A judge could bar someone from having guns after finding that person a danger. That ban would apply in every state under federal law. It would start only after a hearing the person was told about and could attend. Breaking the ban would be a federal crime. Selling a gun to that person would be a crime too. The change would take effect 180 days after the bill passed. The bill would also pay states, tribes, and cities to run "red flag" programs. To get the money, a state would have to pass a law with set rules. Someone could ask a court, in writing and under oath, to take a person's guns. The court would have to hold a hearing within 30 days. A judge could order the guns removed if the danger is more likely than not. Between 25 and 70 cents of every grant dollar would go to police training. That training covers bias, domestic violence, and calming people in crisis. A court could also act before the person gets that hearing. The judge needs only a finding of probable cause, and the order lasts until the hearing. Guns taken this way could not be sold or destroyed without the owner's consent. They go back when the owner is allowed by law to have them again. The orders would show up in the federal background check system. They would also go into national crime databases that civil courts can search. An order from one state would have to be honored in every other state.

Congressional Summary

This bill establishes grants to support the implementation of extreme risk protection order laws at the state and local levels, extends federal firearms restrictions to individuals who are subject to extreme risk protection orders, and expands related data collection. Extreme risk protection order laws, or red flag laws, generally allow certain individuals (e.g., law enforcement officers or family members) to petition a court for a temporary order that prohibits an at-risk individual from purchasing and possessing firearms.Among its provisions, the billdirects the Department of Justice to establish a grant program to help states, local governments, Indian tribes, and other entities implement extreme risk protection order laws;extends federal restrictions on the receipt, possession, shipment, and transportation of firearms and ammunition to individuals who are subject to extreme risk protection orders; andrequires the Federal Bureau of Investigation to compile records from federal, tribal, and state courts and other agencies that identify individuals who are subject to extreme risk protection orders.

Details

Congress
119th
Chamber
Senate
Status
summarized
Action
Introduced in Senate
Action Date
2025-03-06
Date Added
2026-03-30
Source
Congress.gov →

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